San Mateo Police Department's homeless outreach team provides support with compassion
SAN MATEO -- The San Mateo Police Department is taking a new approach to help find long-term solutions for the unhoused with a strategy involving two people who are not officers.
Victoria Asfour approaches every interaction, and every conversation, with compassion. It's something she feels is incredibly important to do, especially when interacting with people who are homeless and those who once were.
"Just because they are less fortunate doesn't mean that they don't deserve to hit that reset button again," she said.
She spends her days on the streets of San Mateo alongside David Johnson. The two of them make up the San Mateo Police Department's new, two-person homeless outreach team. However, they are not police officers and they do not conduct any enforcement.
Asfour and Johnson try to make sure unhoused people in the city don't fall through the cracks. They work to connect people to resources that can help them find shelter and stability.
"When we actually care, they feel it – they know," Asfour said. "When we go looking for somebody in the community and they hear that we're looking for them, it makes them feel important. They are important."
The duo has a constant presence in the community. Between that and their consistent commitment to advocacy, has helped them build a good rapport with many of the people they regularly interact with.
"We're doing more than just outreach; we're doing actual case management. We look at all the needs of the client we're working with," Johnson said. "If they need something simple like just getting an ID card or a Social Security card because that is the barrier to their getting into housing, then we'll help them do that. If they need to get to a court appearance so they don't get a warrant, we can help them with that."
In their first three months together, Johnson and Asfour worked with around 80 people, making more than 200 contacts with them.
"Success is any movement forward. Sometimes, that movement forward could be as simple as having somebody talk to you whose never talked to you before, it could be them finally accepting shelter for the first time," Johnson said.
While they acknowledge there are certain scenarios where police do have to get involved and enforcement is necessary, Asfour and Johnson say by taking a holistic approach, they're able to help people find long-term solutions.
"We have discretion and time to actually take a homeless client from beginning to end if they'll let us," Johnson said.
"They're human beings that came to Earth," Asfour said. "They deserve the same dignity and respect as anybody else."